New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-22
THE BALTIMORE BARGAIN.

Wal Street, it seems, has been clubbing
around more than four months in daily ca
pcctaton Of great deal IN b Tim nc and
Ohio stock which ends in smoke. Day after
day, hundreds Of shrewd men have rackcd
th"ir brains to estimate the prob ilitics Of
succe or failure in the contcmo atcl deal,
have tr ed to calculate what its effects would
be upon prices OF securities. AMI have seen
properties sold chelp bccau c it YVES rumorcd
that the negotiation would fail, or mounting
in pr CO because it was whispered that the
bargain was completed. Now Mr. Garrett
announces that the proposed bargain has
come TO an end the patti who contemplated
urchasc having failed 10 carry out their
undertakings The inference is that he con-
scented TO sell large interest in the railroad
and telegraph lines to par les who wee not
able to purch Sc but who hoped 10 Gnd q
purchaser and have failed. Important syn
ucates, capitalists AMI bankers have been
consul ell about the matter, as all the world
knows Efforts have been made to sell tho
property as whole and pieccmcal; TO con.
solidatc it with other Interests, and TO
strengthen it by absorption Of other proper
ties. The failure OF all these negotiations
is fact Of sone s'gn ficarce
When the IVES Shore sac t. the New
York Central was announced, everybody un-
dcrstood that the latter corporation had paid a
argo sum to defend itself against possible COM
petition. The Baltimore and Ohio Is more i'm
portant to the Y, nnSylvanla, rs possible
competitor, than the West Shore ever was to
the NcwYorS Central, but for one considcra-
ton. The passage Of the Interstate law has
L.. l..
other that compel ton Of the old sort Can no
longer be expected, al least until the act has
been fully and finally interpreted by tho
courts In the sort of competition which
temporarily exists, the Pennsylvania appears
to be getting the advantage, not only over
tho Baltimore and Ohio, but even over the
New York Central, for last week the COM
bined Tonnage Of the three Vanderbilt lines
from Chicago WIS but 30 per cent Of tho
whoc, while the Pennsylvania lines carried 80
Lcr cent. A larger fact j. that the compcti-
ton Of lake and canal routes can no longer
be met, as il formerly was, so that the ag-
gre gate shipments by al the trunk lines have
fallen TO about 25 600 tons weekly.
1t is quite probable that, if the Interstate
act had never been passed, or if it had al
Icduy DctH piC'Ci thie TALL
roads could know precisely what measure OF
competition between them it would permit,
the negotiation for control Of the Baltimore
and Ohio would not have failed. At somo
price, certainly, purchasers would have been
found for that properly because it would
have been possible to ca culatc what the
property was worth. But the Interstate act,
if in many respects beneficial, has this UNI
favorable influence. 1t makes any present
determination of the value Of great railroads
practically impo bic, and therefore Arrest
to large extent purchases not for spCeula-
ton, but for invest ncnt. No railroad man.
ager, no possible buyer of RI lroad property,
can determine how far existing conditions
will be permitted by the law when fully
interpreted and enforced.
The latest decision of the Interstate Com
mission sllstains the trunk lines IN boycotting
Western roads which do not abolish com.
missions This is another important step
toward the abolition OF compe ition in pas.
scnger traffic, but it does not touch the faf
more importans question respecting competi-
ton in thro Oh frcights. Uniil the act has
been fully interpreted in tho latter partic-